There can be no argument that the is a handsome sedan, but some changes are underway to make the 2013 model more striking. Our spy shooters caught this wagon, which despite having its front end heavily cloaked, gives up at least a few details.
New headlights are hiding beneath all that masking, which will integrate the current model’s separate daytime running lamps. Out back, the taillights will retain the same shape, but get a slightly different look.
Also absent from these photos will be a new design to the rear fenders, as we’re told that will be changing the rear doors to remove the “Ponton-style” bulge. The interior will be updated, as well, with some improved safety equipment being added to the E-Class order sheet.
The Detroit News reports lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems is set to post a net loss of $125 million on revenue of $10.9 million for the first quarter of 2012. Official results will be released later this week. The loss includes $51.6 million tied to replacing battery packs produced at the company’s Lavonia, Michigan facility. Some of those packs could have been manufactured with defective cells. The figure also includes $15.2 million to increase inventory reserves.
As you may recall, A123 Systems provides battery packs for companies like Fisker. The extended-range EV manufacturer recently with the supplier’s products, but A123 says it has determined the cause of the defective cells and is working to make sure the failures don’t reoccur.
The report also suggests A123 Systems will lower its revenue forecast for the year to $145 million to $175 million. The company originally projected it would generate between $230 million and $300 million.
Safety features like airbags are supposed to keep us safe in the event of a collision. But one driver allegedly met with a nasty surprise when an airbag in his car reportedly sliced his ear in half.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the incident occurred on April 7 when an unnamed owner of a 2012 was in a crash. Apparently the side curtain airbag on the driver’s side rapidly inflated (like it’s supposed to) but took with it a metal bracket (which it’s not). The result was a severe laceration to the driver’s ear in an automotive reenactment of Holyfield-Tyson II.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is apparently looking into the event, but has yet to issue a recall. Hyundai for its part insists the incident was isolated, and that it has not received reports of anything similar happening to any other drivers.
To say that we’re eager to drive the is one of the understatements of the year. After seeing lots of and , we can’t wait to get Ford’s new hot hatch out on the road, and now, we have a pretty good idea of what sort of aural stimulation the turbocharged will provide while we’re tossing it about.
understands that a good engine and exhaust note is an important part of any performance car’s overall experience, and to that end, the automaker has implemented some interesting technology with its Focus ST. Engineers have added a special sound tube – called a sound symposer – to the ST, which specifically enhances the throaty, low-end frequencies of the exhaust. This sort of sound tube has been used before (on the and ), but here in the Focus ST, there’s an electronically controlled valve that opens and closes based on specific driver inputs. What’s more, this valve is mapped more aggressively in lower gears for great sounds during acceleration, but stays shut more often in higher gears to allow for quieter highway cruising.
But enough of the technical mumbo-jumbo. Click the play button below to hear what the end result sounds like during an acceleration run in the Focus ST.
We like what we hear, though we’ll wait to see just how it sounds when things like road and wind noise are factored in during the overall driving experience. for Ford’s official press blast.
Our friends at Car and Driver recently spent some time poking and prodding around headquarters in Woking, England, and they have confirmed plans for a convertible MP4-12C. This isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, having been and even , but it does suggest the program is on track for a public reveal this year. The MP4-12C Spyder is expected to be mechanically identical to its hard top cousin, which means buyers can look forward to finding twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8 with 593 horsepower kicked out through the rear wheels.
The report says McLaren designed that engine along with its partner, Ricardo, to serve as the beating heart behind more than just one model. In addition to the lidless MP4-12C, McLaren is hard at work on a to the F1. That machine will feature more conventional side-by-side seating and a dual-clutch gearbox bolted to a higher-output version of the same 3.8-liter engine. McLaren also has its heart set on creating a full product line. What does that mean, exactly? Car and Driver says we can forget purist-affronting models like an SUV or a sedan, but the odds are fairly high that the stable will swell beyond the three models mentioned here. Color us excited.
Yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix was an enormous cause for celebration for Williams. The Formula One team that was once at the very top of its game hadn’t won a race since 2004, but it broke that losing streak when Pastor Maldonado claimed the checkered flag for the team against Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen and against all odds. But the celebrations in the team’s garage were cut short when a massive fire broke out just after the race.
The fire erupted an hour and a half after the grand prix’s conclusion as team members were toasting their victory in the garage on pit lane, sending smoke billowing out over the track. Members of other teams – Force India and Caterham chief among them – quickly sprung into action to help their comrades put out the fire. A total of 31 people were subsequently sent to the emergency medical center on site, with all but one treated and released. The remaining Williams team member is being treated for burns suffered in the incident and is expected to be sent back to the UK for further treatment in the coming days.
Officials are still looking into the cause of the fire, which reportedly emanated from the racecar that Bruno Senna drove until it was disabled in a collision with Michael Schumacher that took both cars out of the race. Suspicions center around a malfunction in the Kinetic Energy Recovery System. The incident is not the first time a Williams facility suffered from a fire, the factory back in Grove having a few years ago. to watch video of the incident in Barcelona this weekend.
Automotive News reports no longer plans to manufacture vehicles in China in the near future. The company had originally planned to begin building cars in the country by 2016, but has re-shifted its focus back toward North America. Subaru will now increase production at its Indiana facility while also investigating other ways to up capacity in NA. That could mean adding a new line in Indiana or building an entirely new facility.
It’s only been 10 months since Subaru announced it planned to build a manufacturing plant in China in just five years. Last year, the company said it planned to build 150,000 units per year in the People’s Republic and import an additional 30,000 vehicles. Those numbers have been slimmed to a more modest 100,000 units, all of which will be imports. While Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, the president of Fuji Heavy Industries, says he would still like to see Subaru have a factory in China, he doesn’t expect it to happen by 2016.
In the meantime, Subaru has also increased its North American sales targets from 380,000 units to 410,000.
The auto industry has long been a cyclical business, and though this last trough was a deep one, the coming boom has economists excited. According to Bloomberg, the auto industry’s comeback contributed fully half of the 2.2 percent national economic growth in the first quarter of this year. , the best pace in four years.
Production is up at all three domestic carmakers, which has a ripple effect throughout the economy. Bloomberg cites Chad Moutray, chief economist of the National Association of Manufacturers, who estimates that every dollar spent on a new vehicle leads to an addition $2.02 in economic activity. The industry’s share of gross domestic product for the quarter was 2.8 percent, which is nearly as high as it was in 2007, before the economic crisis that devastated the industry, according to the report.
Yet despite the rise in fortunes for carmakers, stock prices have yet to follow suit. A key automotive index is up just 1.5 percent so far this year, but is down 31 percent in the past 12 months, according to the report. The U.S. Treasury Department recently indicated that because of lagging stock prices, anytime soon.
Certain videos, when the protagonists speak a foreign language, don’t need subtitles: Mexican telenovelas, dolphins in love and auto racing are but three. Although the narration is in Spanish and there isn’t any racing in this video of former WRC Champion Carlos Sainz and current DTM driver Miguel Molina lapping the Autódromo Terramar, the action needs no translation.
Terramar, in Spain, is the second oldest racing track in Europe after England’s Brooklands, built in 1922 to host Grand Prix cars. Its owner’s vision stretched further this his financial backing, so the two-kilometer oval track with 60-degree bankings hosted only one sanctioned race in 1923. After that, it was used sporadically, holding its last event in 1950. It is now part of land used for a chicken farm.
That didn’t stop Sainz and Molina from seeing how fast they could lap the 80-year-old circuit in a Red Bull Racing Audi R8 LMS. The video is a bit long, but it’s well-shot and definitely worth watching for the high banking and bumpy airborn shots alone. Check out the action by to watch the video.
Every time I travel to Maranello for a test drive, the three hours or so prior to turning the red key are driven in a U.S. Interstate-style straight line along Italy’s A1 autostrada in my 99-horsepower 2001 Opel Astra station wagon with five-speed manual. It’s just about the perfect antithetical setup for the unleashing of the hounds that awaits just over the hills south of HQ.
This trip over was for the midlife upgrade of the for our 2013 model year, a car that promises to weigh less, deliver more horsepower and torque, and go quicker.
Just days that had plans to introduce the Pajun, a competitor for the that would slot just below the , Automotive News quoted Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller saying the Pajun was not a done deal but could become reality in five or six years.
was referencing an interview Mueller gave to German newspaper , in which he also says the company has no plans for an entry-level Porsche below the until at least 2014.
“We would do no good to the brand if we were to lose traditional Porsche customers,” Mueller told the newspaper. In another interview with German business publication , Mueller said, “Possibly we need to wait until the next generation of customers before the idea of a small roadster will work for Porsche.”
If you’re wondering why the name sounds familiar, it’s because . That’s right, General Motors’ chunky little crossover concept has blossomed into the production CUV you see here, and might we say, it’s quite a handsome little thing.
Details about the new Trax are scarce, but since it looks to be based on the same high-riding platform derived from the that underpins the and , so we’d expect the powertrains to simply carry over unchanged.
But know this: has no plans to offer the Trax in the United States, citing “the strong position of the ” as the reason why it won’t be offered Stateside. That’s a shame, too. In our opinion, this baby Bowtie certainly makes more sense than the frumpy Buick Encore that doesn’t really seem to fit with its brand. We suspect that Chevy dealers won’t get this vehicle in part because GM wants to protect the Buick’s positioning and price when it heads to U.S. dealers later this year.
The Trax will make its official debut at the in late September. For now, click the image above for a high-resolution version and to read GM’s official release.
Trax crossover headed to Paris, not bound for U.S.
Mike Flewitt, Ford’s vice president, manufacturing, Ford of Europe, has decided to “pursue other career interests” according to the company’s press release. Jeff Wood, director of manufacturing for Ford’s North America operations, will replace Flewitt beginning June 1.
Automotive News reports that the resignation comes after Ford of Europe reported a first-quarter, pre-tax loss of $149 million. The company has also cut working days at plants in Spain and days and production rates in Germany. Ford of Europe CEO Stephen Odell has previously said Ford’s second-quarter production will fall by 65,000 vehicles from last year.
Flewitt began working at Ford in 1983 as an assembly plant trainee. Eventually he wound up at in 1995 as production director then moved to managing director at AutoNova AB in 1998 and operations group manager at TWR in 2000. In 2003, Flewitt returned to Ford of Europe as production quality director. Flewitt was installed in the VP position in January, 2012.
Automotive News says Flewitt has left Ford’s European headquarters in Cologne, Germany for his UK birthplace.
Read Ford’s press release after the jump for details and other personnel news from Ford.
We can now take an official, in-depth look at the new BMW M135i and the accompanying three-door range – and there’s much to see. Starting from the beginning, the Bimmer’s styling has inclined some people to grab their hatchets. Yes, there’s a whole lot of intensity and a slumgullion of deeply incised polygons mixed together in that little upright face, but we have no doubt there’ll be a whole lot more people grabbing their wallets when they see it.
Along with the 320-horsepower M135i, fresh engines and features are among the new treats, as well as Sport Line, Urban Line and M Sport Package trims. The new 102-hp 114i model establishes the base, followed by the 136-hp 116i, 170-hp 118i and 218-hp 125i on the gasoline side, the 116-hp 116d, 143-hp 118d, 184-hp 120d and 218-hp 125d on the diesel side. Six-speed manuals are the go-to, with two eight-speed automatic transmissions in the options column. The M135i and 120d can be had with xDrive all-wheel drive, a first-time application on the 1 Series.
The new body is 85 mm longer, 17 mm wider, with a 30-mm longer wheelbase and wider track front and rear. The enlarged dimensions mean more cargo and legroom in the back, and buyers will get the option of having either two or three rear seats. And the comfort and safety systems lists read like someting out of the Papa Bear , from Internet access to Lane Departure Warning and auto-braking cruise control.
Hop into the high-res gallery or head for the press releases that details everythingyou could want to know about the new three-door 1 Series.
We can now take an official, in-depth look at the new BMW M135i and the accompanying three-door range – and there’s much to see. Starting from the beginning, the Bimmer’s styling has inclined some people to grab their hatchets. Yes, there’s a whole lot of intensity and a slumgullion of deeply incised polygons mixed together in that little upright face, but we have no doubt there’ll be a whole lot more people grabbing their wallets when they see it.
Along with the 320-horsepower M135i, fresh engines and features are among the new treats, as well as Sport Line, Urban Line and M Sport Package trims. The new 102-hp 114i model establishes the base, followed by the 136-hp 116i, 170-hp 118i and 218-hp 125i on the gasoline side, the 116-hp 116d, 143-hp 118d, 184-hp 120d and 218-hp 125d on the diesel side. Six-speed manuals are the go-to, with two eight-speed automatic transmissions in the options column. The M135i and 120d can be had with xDrive all-wheel drive, a first-time application on the 1 Series.
The new body is 85 mm longer, 17 mm wider, with a 30-mm longer wheelbase and wider track front and rear. The enlarged dimensions mean more cargo and legroom in the back, and buyers will get the option of having either two or three rear seats. And the comfort and safety systems lists read like someting out of the Papa Bear , from Internet access to Lane Departure Warning and auto-braking cruise control.
Hop into the high-res gallery or head for the press releases that details everythingyou could want to know about the new three-door 1 Series.
Mazda and the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula have extended the automaker’s naming rights of Laguna Seca for another five years. That means the famous race track in California will continue to be known as Mazda Raceway, at least through 2016. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors ratified the agreement.
The Japanese manufacturer has been instrumental in updating and improving Laguna Seca to make the facility more convenient and safer than before. Mazda helped fund additions like permanent pit lane garages and luxury hospitality suites as well as additional runoff areas on the track itself. Mazda first partnered up with SCRAMP in 2001, but the company says its ties to the track go all the way back to the ’70s, when the brand was little-known here the States. for the full press release.
By all accounts, Marussia is just another exotic automaker hoping to sell a few supercars but just as likely to disappear into obscurity. Except that it hasn’t, and may not for some time.
Having potentially overextended itself by buying the majority of a Formula One racing team from Virgin, the Russian upstart needed its newest product – dubbed the B2 – to be the runaway success that the (relatively) less dramatically-styled B1 wasn’t. And so it appears it will be as reports indicate that Marussia has sold out its entire production run of 500 vehicles.
In order to keep up with demand, production is reportedly shifting from Marussia’s own facility in Moscow to Valmet in Finland, the same place where the is built now and the and were before it. Cosworth will then be shipping the 3.5-liter V6 that provides between 300 and 420 horsepower (depending on customer specification) to drive the 2,425-pound lightweight supercar to 60 in as little as 3.2 seconds.
Check out the pair in the fresh image gallery above for a closer look.
Typically when an automaker wants to roll out a new car, it does so at one of a dozen or so major auto shows held throughout the calendar and around the world. But with the bulk of the show season on break for the summer, rumor has it that Renault is planning a more glamorous location to unveil its latest.
Speculation has been mounting for years that Renault was preparing to revive the Alpine nameplate with a new sports car sometime soon. And with the 50th anniversary of the legendary A110 (pictured above in the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally) coming up, the latest suggests that is exactly what the French automaker has in store for the Monaco Grand Prix, scheduled to take place in short order on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Just what the new Renault Alpine will amount to, if anything, remains to be seen, however. Some forecast that it could be based on the same platform as the from allied automaker , while others anticipate an electric sports car of some sort.
One way or another, it won’t be the only Renault present for the most iconic of grands prix: eight out of the 24 F1 cars on the grid this year are powered by the same Renault RS27 engine that powered Sebastian Vettel to the last two world championships.
If you thought has expanded its range of luxury automobiles to gargantuan proportions, well… you’re right. But its commercial vehicles division hasn’t been missing a step, either. The German truckmaker is still in the process of launching the new Citan urban delivery van, and is already working on its next offering to the truckers of the world: the Antos.
Designed from the get-go as a short-radius distribution truck, the Antos pioneers a new class of maneuverable and versatile workhorse. Still in the development phase, the Antos will be revealed in full at the Commercial Vehicle IAA this coming September, at which point it will be made available in a staggering array of configurations. Mercedes-Benz plans to offer the Antos in two cab styles, with no fewer than thirteen powertrain options (ranging from 238 horsepower up to 510) and a whopping 67 wheelbase lengths to make it almost infinitely adaptable to whatever use its owners and operators have in mind.
The possibilities with a truck like this are virtually endless, extending to refrigerator boxes, flat beds, high cubes and beyond. to read more about it in the full press release.
-Benz launching new Antos short-radius distribution truck
Every year the Formula One calendar incorporates new races at more far-flung locations around the world. Recent additions have brought the series to such locales as Abu Dhabi, South Korea and India. But the purists know that, no matter where it may roam, F1 is essentially a European series.
With the grands prix in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain now behind us, the circus has come back home for the European section of the calendar that kicked off this weekend in Barcelona, Spain. Keep reading to see how it unfolded.
